games@pyuxqq.UUCP (games) (12/02/83)
Is there any state in the USA that does NOT have compulsory jury duty? How is jury duty handled in other countries?
trb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) (12/05/83)
Is there any state in the USA that does NOT have compulsory jury duty? How is jury duty handled in other countries? I did petit jury duty two years ago in NJ. It's not exactly compulsory; if you have a good excuse, you don't have to go. Like if you'd be fired if you went or if your company would be in jeopardy if you went, or health reasons or something. Anyway, I wasn't real excited about wasting two weeks in court, but my boss told me that there was no way to get a waiver from the Bell System, the management thought it was the civic responsibility of a Bell System employee to serve his community by being a juror. So I went, and I was really glad that I did. I only got to serve on one jury (the lawyers don't like long-haired analytical types) but I was happy to participate in the judicial process. Our constitution at work, and all that. We saw a cute little slide show that said that 95% of the world's jury trials were in the US. That's pretty amazing. At least from my experience, jurors and judges really did seem to be careful to be impartial and fair. I know that there are problems with the system, but it seems to me to be better than other alternatives. Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc Westford MA (617) 692-6200 x274